1979 in poetry explained

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).

Events

The Kenyon Review is restarted by Kenyon College in the United States 10 years after the original publication was closed.
Jahrbuch der Lyrik ("Poetry Yearbook"), an annual poetry anthology, is launched in Germany, nine years before the similar series The Best American Poetry is begun. Each year's edition, containing 100 poems, is published in the spring by Beck, and is edited by Christoph Buchwald along with a guest editor.^[1]
Poetry Canada Review founded by Clifton Whiten in order to publish and review poetry from across Canada; the publication folds in 1994.^[2]

Works published in English

Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:

Australia

Robert Adamson Where I Come From
Robert Gray, Grass script
Jennifer Maiden, The Border Loss, Angus & Robertson
Les Murray, The Boys Who Stole the Funeral, Angus & Robertson, 1979, 1980 and Manchester, Carcanet, 1989
John Tranter:
- Dazed in the Ladies Lounge, Island Press (Australia)
- Editor, The New Australian Poetry (anthology)^[3]
Chris Wallace-Crabbe:
- The Emotions Are Not Skilled Workers, Sydney: Angus & Robertson
- Toil and Spin: Two Directions in Modern Poetry (scholarship), Melbourne: Hutchinson

Canada

Dionne Brand, Earth Magic
Paul Dutton, Right Hemisphere, Left Ear
Michael Ondaatje, There's a Trick with a Knife I'm Learning to Do
Irving Layton, Droppings from Heaven. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.
Irving Layton, The Tamed Puma. Toronto: Virgo Press.
Irving Layton, There Were No Signs. Toronto: Madison Gallery.^[4]
Dennis Lee.The Gods. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.^[5]
Steven McCaffery and B.P. Nichol, In England Now That Spring
Susan Musgrave, A Man to Bury, A Man to Marry
Michael Ondaatje (also see "Anthologies in Canada" section below):
- There's a Trick with a Knife I'm Learning to Do: Poems, 1963-1978, New York: W. W. Norton (New York, NY), 1979^[6], (published as Rat Jelly, and Other Poems, 1963-1978, London, United Kingdom: Marion Boyars, 1980)^[6]
- Claude Glass (literary criticism), Toronto: Coach House Press^[6]
Charles Sangster, Hesperus and other poems and lyrics (revised edition), edited by Frank M. Tierney (Tecumseh) ^[7]
Raymond Souster, Hanging In: New Poems. Ottawa: Oberon Press.^[8]
James Wreford Watson, Countryside Canada.^[9]

Anthologies in Canada

Michael Ondaatje:
- Editor, A Book of Beasts, animal verse; Ottawa: Oberon; revision of The Broken Ark, 1971^[6]
- Editor, The Long Poem Anthology, Toronto: Coach House^[6]

India, in English

K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar, Leaves from a Log: Fragments of a Journey, New Delhi: Arnold Heinemann
Kamala Das, Old Playhouse and Other Poems (Poetry in English), Madras: Orient Longman^[10]
Eunice de Souza, Fix (Poetry in English), Bombay: Newground, India.^[11]
Jayanta Mahapatra, Waiting (Poetry in English), New Delhi: Samkaleen Prakashan^[12]
Prabhu Siddartha Guptara, Continuations (Poetry in English), Calcutta: Writers Workshop
Om Prakash Bhatnagar, Feeling Fossils^[13]

Ireland

Harry Clifton, Office of the Salt Merchant, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press, Ireland
Seamus Heaney, Northern Ireland poet published in the United Kingdom:
- Field Work,^[14] Faber & Faber
- Hedge School, Janus Press
- Ugolino, Carpenter Press
- Gravities, Charlotte Press
- A Family Album, Byron Press
Thomas Kinsella, One and Other Poems, including "Anniversaries"^[15]
Michael Longley, The Echo Gate.^[14] Northern Ireland poet published in the United Kingdom
Derek Mahon, Poems 1962-1978, including "A Dying Art", "Ecclesiastes", "An Image from Beckett", "Lives", "The Snow Party", "A Refusal to Mourn" and "A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford", Oxford University Press, Northern Ireland poet published in the United Kingdom^[15]

New Zealand

Fleur Adcock (New Zealand poet who moved to England in 1963):
- The Inner Harbour, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press (New Zealand poet who moved to England in 1963)^[16]
- Below Loughrigg, Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books ^[16]
Allen Curnow, An Incorrigible Music^[17]
Bill Manhire, Dawn/Water
Bob Orr, Poems for Moira^[18]

Anthologies

John Jessop, editor, International Anthology of Concrete Poetry, vol. i
George Swede, editor, The Canadian Haiku Anthology

South Africa

Mazisi Kunene, Emperor Shaka the Great: a Zulu Epic

United Kingdom

Fleur Adcock (New Zealand poet who moved to England in 1963):
- The Inner Harbour, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press (New Zealand poet who moved to England in 1963)^[16]
- Below Loughrigg, Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books ^[16]
Kingsley Amis, Collected Poems 1944 - 1979^[14]
James Berry, Fractured Circles^[14]
Anne Born, Changing Views
Robert Conquest, Forays
Patric Dickinson, Our Living John, and Other Poems^[14]
Maureen Duffy, Memorials of the Quick and the Dead^[14]
Douglas Dunn, Barbarians^[14]
Ketaki Kushari Dyson, Hibiscus in the North
D. J. Enright, A Faust Book^[14]
John Fuller, Lies and Secrets^[14]
W. S. Graham, Collected Poems 1942 - 1977^[14]
Thom Gunn, Selected Poems 1950 - 1975 (see also Poems 1969 in poetry, Collected Poems 1993)^[14]
Seamus Heaney, Northern Ireland poet published in the United Kingdom:
- Field Work,^[14] Faber & Faber
- Hedge School, Janus Press
- Ugolino, Carpenter Press
- Gravities, Charlotte Press
- A Family Album, Byron Press
Ted Hughes:
- Moortown^[14]
- Remains of Elmet^[14]
Elizabeth Jennings, Moments of Grace^[14]
P. J. Kavanagh, Life Before Death^[14]
Omar Khayyám, The Rubaiyat, translated by John Heath-Stubbs and Peter Avery
Michael Longley, The Echo Gate^[14]
Roger McGough, Holiday on Death Row^[14]
Derek Mahon, Poems 1962-1978. Oxford University Press
Pete Morgan, The Spring Collection^[19]
Brian Patten, Grave Gossip^[14]
Craig Raine, A Martian Sends a Postcard Home^[14]
Peter Reading, Fiction^[14]

United States

John Ashbery, As We Know
Ted Berrigan and Harris Schiff, Yo-Yo's With Money
Joseph Payne Brennan, Webs of Time (Macabre House)
Maxine Chernoff, Utopia TV Store (The Yellow Press)
Robert Creeley, Was That a Real Poem and Other Essays, edited by Donald Allen (Bolinas, California), criticism^[20]
Federico García Lorca (posthumous), translated by Paul Blackburn, Lorca/Blackburn: Poems of Federico García Lorca Chosen by Paul Blackburn
John Hollander, Blue Wine
Paul Hoover, Letter to Einstein Beginning Dear Albert (The Yellow Press)
Stanley Kunitz, The Poems of Stanley Kunitz
Denise Levertov, Collected Earlier Poems
Gary Miranda, Listeners at the Breathing Place
F. A. Nettelbeck, Bug Death
Mary Oliver, Sleeping in the Forest (chapbook)
George Quasha, Giving the Lily Back Her Hands (Station Hill Press)
Frank Stanford, You, posthumous chapbook (Lost Roads Publishers)
Robert Penn Warren, Brother to Dragons

Works published in other languages

Listed by language and often by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:

Denmark

Inger Christensen, Brev i April ("Letter in April")^[21]
Klaus Høeck, Denmark:
- Dylan Forever, publisher: Swing^[22]
- Winterreise, publisher: Gyldendal ^[22]
Henrik Nordbrandt, Spøgelseslege

French

Canada, in French

Jean Royer, Les heures nues, Montréal: Nouvelles Éditions de l'Arc^[23]
Marie Uguay Signe et rumeur

France

Noureddine Aba, Gazelle après minuit, Algerian writer^[24]
Alain Bosquet, Poémes, un, his collected works up to 1967
André du Bouchet, Laisses^[25]
Pierre Emmanuel, Una, ou la mort, la vie
Claude Esteban, Terres, travaux du cœur, Flammarion
Guillevic, Etier
André Pieyre de Mandiargues, L'ivre Oeil
Patrick Reumaux, Repérages du vif

India

Listed in alphabetical order by first name:

Ajmer Rode, Surti, London, Ontario: Third Eye Publications, Chandigarh: Raghbir Rachna Parkashan; Punjabi-language^[26]
Geeta Parikh, Bhinash; Gujarati-language^[27]
K. Satchidanandan, Ezhuthachan Ezhutumbol, ("When the Poet Writes"); Malayalam-language^[28]
Kunwar Narain, Apne Samne, New Delhi: Rajkamal Prakashan; Hindi-language^[29]
Malika Amar Sheikh, Valuchya Priyakar, Mumbai: Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Prabodhini; Marathi-language^[30]
Rajendra Bhandari, Hiundey yee chisa raatka pardeharuma ("In the Veils of Cold Wintry Nights"), Gangtok, Sikkim: Padmakala Prakashan; Nepali-language^[31]

Poland

Stanisław Barańczak, Etyka i poetyka ("Ethics and Poetics"), criticism; Paris: Instytut Literacki^[32]
Ewa Lipska:
- Dom spokojnej młodości ("A Home for Youth"), selected poems, Kraków: Wydawnictwo literackie^[33]
- Zywa smierc, ("Living Death"); Kraków: Wydawnictwo literackie^[33]

Spain

Matilde Camus, Corcel en el tiempo ("Steed of the time")

Other

Christoph Buchwald, general editor, and Harald Hartung, guest editor, Jahrbuch der Lyrik 1: Am Rand der Zeit ("Poetry Yearbook 1: On the Edge of Time"), publisher: Claassen; anthology; Germany^[34]
Haim Gouri, Ayuma, Israeli writing in Hebrew^[35]
Nizar Qabbani, I Testify That There Is No Woman But You, Syrian poet writing in Arabic

Awards and honors

Nobel Prize in Literature: Odysseus Elytis, Greek